Why your Wix site is so slow, and what to do about it

Speed is measured, not felt. Enter your home page in Google’s PageSpeed Insights and read the mobile tab, because it is the view Google itself uses to index a site. Note three figures: how long the main content takes to appear, how quickly the page responds to a tap, and how much the layout shifts. Our guide to checking your website speed explains each one and the marks to aim for.

Run the same test on a competitor’s home page. The gap between the two results is the problem to solve.

Wix handles some of the work without being asked. Its help centre says uploaded images are resized automatically and converted to modern formats, and that images and videos are loaded only as a visitor reaches them. A slow Wix site is slow in spite of those.

Wix’s performance guidance lists the causes, and they are few.

• Heavy content at the top of the page. Wix advises plain elements there, such as text, shapes and buttons, because the top is loaded first.
• Video at the top of the page. Wix advises keeping video lower down.
• Animations and effects that run as the page loads.
• Too many fonts. Wix’s text guidance says three or fewer, counting system and custom fonts together.
• Third-party apps and embedded content. Wix says these are delivered from other companies’ servers, that it cannot optimise them, and that they may add to loading time.
• Lightboxes, and long galleries on mobile.

Start with what is seen first and costs most.

1. Replace a video or slideshow at the top of the home page with one still image and a heading.
2. Remove animations that run on load.
3. Move embedded feeds, maps and chat tools off the home page, or remove them.
4. Cut the fonts to two families.
5. Use the mobile editor to hide what a phone does not need.

Then run the test again and compare.

A Wix site runs on Wix’s servers and is assembled by Wix’s code. Wix states that a site built on its platform cannot be hosted anywhere else. The owner controls the content and the design, and has no control over how the page is built and delivered.

If the site has been stripped back and the test still fails, the remaining cost belongs to the platform, and the choice is between accepting it and rebuilding elsewhere. Our guide to moving a Wix site to another host sets out what that involves, and what you keep.